Gang Displacement is less effective than Community Transformation through Academic Formation, Gang Prevention, and Community Relief

If you ever went to Chuck E. Cheese as a kid, you may remember “whack-a-mole.” Before Candy Crush and Wordle, when people played games at arcades, it was a classic game where the player used a fake hammer to whack a “mole” that popped up on one part of the board, and simultaneously another mole or two popped up in other places.

As Lemonade pursues our vision of Acts 1:8 and reaches more of the poorest neighborhoods in Guatemala City, we have found that there is both more need and more hope than we initially realized. In meeting with new and potential partners on the ground we have seen that poverty and gang violence are growing, yet a new generation of leaders is rising to meet the challenge.

Gangs take root in vulnerable communities. When one community is transformed through a church or nonprofit program, much like water moving to find a level place, gangs may move to new communities that lack this support. One term for this is gang displacement.

We have a tremendous opportunity if we take this seriously now, but sadly, we can also see the consequences if we don’t. An American couple serving as missionaries in Haiti recently made the news when they were ambushed by gangs and killed. The UN estimates that more than 2,500 people have been killed or injured in Haiti in just the first three months of this year, and that disrupting the roughly 300 gangs in Haiti may prove to be a more difficult challenge than anticipated because an estimated 80 percent of the capital city Port au Prince is now under gang control.

While we have witnessed effective community transformation in La Limonada through academic formation, gang prevention, and community relief, despite more than fifteen years of concentrated work, gangs, poverty, and malnutrition throughout Guatemala City have grown. But rather than sending more missionaries from the U.S. or tackling countrywide poverty without a network, we are now working toward effective community transformation and redemption through long-term partnerships with a variety of indigenous-led organizations and international NGOs serving in multiple locations in Guatemala City.

Lemonade International’s approach – strategically supporting several nonprofit organizations led by Guatemala City leaders focused together on urban poverty – is stronger and more effective than other models.

Only by working together in unity can we see the needs of the city as a whole and have lasting impact. Deep, city-wide transformation at a generational pace may be slow but it is so much more effective, and frankly, biblical.

Lemonade needs your help as we lay the groundwork for the future, building relationships with new organizations and growing our partnership with Associación Comunitaria Alcance. Alcance recently opened a community center in the growing marginalized community of El Carmen, a neighborhood in Santa Catarina Pinula on the southeastern side of Guatemala City.

Our first goal is the installation of a second and third bathroom at the El Carmen Center, to build a roof, and to renovate the patio. This will provide more classroom space for the nearly 200 children and staff and allow them to utilize the open space fully for healthy, outdoor activities, parenting classes, and special events. The current classroom size is very small, so this will also create space for Service Learning Teams to interact with the children. Even the local government has been involved by loaning Alcance a temporary, vinyl covering each month while space is limited!

Beyond these immediate building needs, Lemonade is also developing health infrastructure for staff, children, and the community, including raising money for mental and emotional health staff, first aid packs, and preventative medicines like acetaminophen or antibiotics. Additionally we are looking for strategic support for operational expenses to grow fundraising in the US and Guatemala, ECFA accreditation, and equipment and team-building activities for staff.

Will you help us lay the foundation for our work against the growth of gangs, violence, and poverty in Guatemala City? Will you “build the blocks” of success with us as we see children and students rescued, redeemed, and leading their communities?

To make a donation to our Building Blocks campaign, click HERE.